Decibel
Are There Still Doves In Dove Springs?
Clip | 4m 18sVideo has Closed Captions
Are the birds that gave Dove Springs its name still in the area?
Most residents will tell you the same thing–this area was named Dove Springs by early residents, and was used as a formal title when the neighborhood was built in the 70’s. But do doves still call Dove Springs home?
Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
Funding for Decibel is provided in part by Texas Mutual and Roxanne Elder & Scott Borders
Decibel
Are There Still Doves In Dove Springs?
Clip | 4m 18sVideo has Closed Captions
Most residents will tell you the same thing–this area was named Dove Springs by early residents, and was used as a formal title when the neighborhood was built in the 70’s. But do doves still call Dove Springs home?
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No, no, no.
Ana Aguirre lives right on a small greenbelt with lots of trees and a small creek.
It seems like the perfect habitat for a nearby neighborhood namesake.
Doves.
[Ana] This is me just talking to people that have been here for much longer than I have.
That actually grew up here.
And from what I understand and I believe it, you know, because they're like there's a lot of springs and there's a lot of doves.
[Reporter] Most residents will tell you the same thing.
This area was named Dove Springs by early residents and was used as a formal name when the neighborhood was built in the seventies.
That makes sense.
Developers sometimes name new subdivisions after natural features in the area.
You got doves, you got springs, Dove springs.
But are there still doves in Dove Springs?
[Footsteps crunching on gravel] [Reporter] All right.
We need an expert.
This is Rich Kostecke, and he knows birds.
Travis Audubon Board member.
Conservation biologist and ornithologist.
I work for a local nonprofit, Hill Country Conservancy, where I'm a conservation and science specialist.
[Reporter] Like I said, Rich knows birds.
So I asked him, Are we going to see some doves today?
[Rich] I haven't seen any doves yet, but it's possible.
This area was probably named for the Mourning Dove.
There is other types of doves.
Some of them are a little harder to see.
They're smaller, a little more secretive.
Others are, you know, have specialized habitat.
But mourning doves are actually pretty widespread.
Common dove across the U.S. and certainly across pretty much all of Texas.
They could go out into the open areas and feed on seeds.
They could come back to the springs, to the creeks for water.
It should have been a really good place considering the habitats that would have been available.
You can find them around, but they're much less common.
[Reporter] So we know why the area used used to be attractive to mourning doves.
Lots of food, water, shelter.
But what happened to them?
[Rich] A lot of it is because of some of the new doves that arrived.
White wing doves kind of moved out from South Texas in 1985, and they quickly became very numerous and quickly adapted to the Austin urban environment, as well as many other urban environments.
They've kind of pushed out the mourning doves there taking advantage of food resources, kind of like the grackles, French fries in the H-E-B parking lot or McDonald's or whatever.
[Reporter] If all this sounds familiar, the story of long time residents being displaced by new arrivals with better access to resources.
You're not wrong, but animals.
With animals, it's called habitat loss.
When we're talking about people, we usually call it gentrification.
Austin and Dove Springs have seen both.
While home prices have dropped this year, the average cost for a home in Austin is still over $500,000.
Plus, mortgage rates have more than doubled compared to last year, and rent in Austin still averages around 1700 dollars a month, according to a study by a local nonprofit.
Even in southeast Austin, which has the lowest average rate rent hovers around 1500 dollars a month.
That's hard to manage if you live in a house, an apartment, or something smaller.
Seeds or the berries that come from those trees.
That may be.
Anna says he's seen how development has impacted wildlife in the area.
[Anna] We have a lot of springs and unfortunately some of them have been destroyed just because of development and growth in the community.
So we're trying to do what we can to preserve.
[Rich] Dropped down behind the trees.
[Reporter] Austin's future isn't built yet, but whatever it is, all of us, people and birds, will have to adapt.
Because, as Rich says, the only guarantee is that it will be different.
There will be continued continued change.
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